High over the southwestern horizon is a trio of bright stars forming a star pattern known as the Summer Triangle.
These star patterns-shapes or pictures that people readily identify-are not official constellations and are referred to as as asterisms. It is an area of
the evening sky is particularly interesting for the various and diverse celestial objects observable.
The highest point in the Summer Triangle is the star Deneb, which marks the tail of the Swan, or the top of
the 'Northern Cross'. Lower toward the west is the brightest star of the trio, Vega, which is part of the constellation Lyra the Harp.
The lowest member of the trio is the star Altair in Aquila the Eagle.
The base of the asterism the Northern Cross (or the eye of Cygnus the Swan) is a star known as Alberio, a popular
telescope object to show off. This star is actually a binary star system, two stars. What is striking about these two stars is the sharp
contrast in color. One is noticeably yellow or golden in color while the other star is strikingly blue.
Shoot an arrow through a coat hanger? Well not exactly. However if you are able to locate the small constellation of
Sagitta the Arrow in your binoculars then you are within one 'field of view' (how much of the sky you see through an optical aid like binoculars)
of an interesting and very small asterism known as the Coat Hanger, or Brocchi's Cluster. It very much looks like a coat hanger as seen in this image.
While exploring the area around Sagitta you will come across another fuzzy-looking object. This is M-71, another of the
globular star clusters discovered by Charles Messier.
Excellent, free star charts are available from the Stephen F. Austin University Observatory which may be downloaded from
their web site and used to follow or perhaps plot the Sun’s apparent path along the ecliptic.
